Each transition in the life cycle of the Aonikenk people was celebrated with a passage rite.

During gestation, to avoid sexual contact, the pregnant woman was separated from her husband: it was believed that semen enlarged the fetus, making labor more difficult. She then ate dry meat, avoiding liquids as much as possible. Her mother and grandmother assisted the woman in the birthing process.

The newborn was painted white, and then was named based on its physical features, place of birth, or a dead family member.

At the age of four, children attended the Earring Ceremony; girls had both ears perforated and the boys had only one. A needle and horsehair were the instruments used for piercing.

The Aonikenk or Tewelche people, now extinct in Chile, belonged to a group of nomads of the Patagonia. They are recognized as one of the tallest ethnic groups in the world, two meters height in average. They lived as hunters and food gatherers in the pampa, between the Strait of Magallanes and the Santa Cruz River. Their enthusiastic versions about the enormous footprints that they found gave origin to legends about the giants of the Patagonia, what explains the name given to this vast territory and to their inhabitants. During the XVIII th century, the Aonikenk people developed riding skills over the newly arrived horses, expanding their travels through the Austral steppes. Due to their physical resemblance the Aonikenks are thought to be related to the Selk´nam people. Moreover, their languages have the Tshon as their common root .

Since 1892 and until his death, in 1905, he ruled over the native community in the Rio Zurdo Valley (1911).

George Muster

He was the first white man to live with the Patagonian Aonikenk.

The indigenous' testimonies compiled in his work became highly valued sources.

He wrote: At Home with the Patagonians, a Year Wandering Over Untrodden Ground from the Straight of Magellan to the Rio Negro, London (1874), and Life Among the Patagones, Buenos Aires, Universidad Nacional de la Plata.

The Aonikenk treat sickness with two forms of medicine: natural and magical.

The knowledge of natural medicine was not exclusive of the shamans; it was based of resources available in the surroundings. Constipation, for example, was cured with the gauycurú, a plant used as a purgative. They also used Pampa Tea (Satureja darwini), as an anti inflammatory, for stomach pains and infections. They also has a herb that grows in the estuary of the Gallegos River for rheumatic pains.

As the Selk´nam people, they probably used the Romerillo for improving their vision and, to calm stomach pains, they used the bark of zarzaparilla (Ribes magellanica). When natural medicine failed, the shamans intervened with magic medicine. For healing, they used amulets, stones and noisy rattles to drive away the malignant spirits .

Virginity was valued, for which reason young women were taught not to have sexual relations before marriage.

The ceremony included the sacrifice of mares and the male Ostrich Dance.

Marriage was celebrated with the sacrifice of horses and dances, as in other ceremonies.

However, for these occasions, dogs were not fed with meat because it was considered a bad omen. Other common ritual practices included shedding blood to propiciate the spirits incarnated in nature. Another ceremony consisting in prayers to the new moon, and in dancing with their ancestral spirits in an emotional event that lasted long into the cold Patagonian night.

The introduction of alcohol drinking, introduced by the white man, contributed to intoxication and to the destruction of the native people .

The Pretty House was similar to the shelter of the Aonikenk, but instead of being covered with a guanaco skin it was decorated with new ponchos, cushions, ostrich feathers, rattles and bells with blue, red and yellow beads.

Inside they restricted the bride's food, limiting her fat consumption.

Generally the maternal grandmother or grandfather accompanied her, educating and advising her in her new adult role.

The bride learned the moral codes of her community and the daily activities, such as washing, cooking, weaving and caring for children.